Ein unerschöpflicher Quell der Menschenkenntnis sind die Informationen, die die Reviewer bei Amazon (der amerikanischen Ausgabe) über sich zur Verfügung stellen. Die Unzahl von Menschen, die hunderte zum Teil außerordentlich kluger Kritiken, Impressionen, Empfehlungen bei Amazon veröffentlichen, auf dass der Rest der Welt das völlig zufallsüberlassen lese, versetzt mich immer wieder in Staunen. Für ein echtes Genie halte ich den rundum beschlagenen Darragh O'Donoghue aus Dublin, der sich gerade rasant seiner 600. Kritik nähert. Aber dann gibt es da noch die Top Reviewerin Harriet Klausner, die zwei Krimis täglich bespricht (insgesamt, Stand heute, 13 Uhr, 3154). Wirklich anrührend aber so lakonische Selbstbeschreibungen wie diese hier von einem Sam Mills:

I live in Lake City, California, seven miles north of Cedarville, Modoc County. Formerly I co-owned (with my son Josh) Great Basin Books, a used-book store. We closed it last month after two years. I sell a few used books on Amazon. I have been an editor of books, magazines, and newspapers since I was an infant (since junior high school, anyway). I have been exclusively a freelance line and developmental editor since 1994. When the dot-coms crashed last fall (2000) I lost my client base and have been struggling to re-establish one ever since. I'm a good editor, a cowardly writer, and have an abiding love for literature and poetry. In 1998 I studied herbalism and traditional uses for southwestern native plants with Michael Moore at his Southwest School of Botanical Medicine in Bisbee, Arizona. Right now I live in Surprise Valley at the feet of the Warner Mountains on a 26-acre farm that, thanks to the aforementioned crash, is about to be foreclosed on (wish me luck!). I hope to grow and market medicinal herbs someday, as a sideline, but my first love is the printed word. I may try to do some sort of publishing here, perhaps a small magazine or reprinted books. It's a dream, anyway. My dogs are Sally and Rudy; my cats (accumulated strays) are Ned, Grace, RuthApricot, and Blind Lemon Mama. My interests include American social history; Macintosh computers; permaculture; movies of all kinds. I love James Cagney; _Pennies from Heaven_ (the movie); _Last Tango in Paris_; Dashiell Hammett; Raymond Chandler; Ford Madox Ford; THOMAS HARDY; the poetry of Frank Stanford; my memories of '50s Iowa and '60s L.A., and waking up each morning here in the middle of nowhere.